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Anna J. Park

Korea Times Politics & City Reporter

Anna Jiwon Park has been covering the politics at The Korea Times since the summer of 2024, when she joined the press pool for the Office of the President in Korea. Prior to that, she spent about five years reporting extensively on financial markets, regulatory authorities and the financial industry. She joined The Korea Times in 2019 after spending eight years as a broadcast journalist at Arirang TV, Korea’s leading global broadcaster, covering politics, defense and culture.

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Economy

IMM considers selling minority stake in AirFirst

AirFirst's Pyeongtaek Semiconductor Complex in Gyeonggi Province / Courtesy of IMM PEBy Anna J. ParkIMM Private Equity (PE), one of Korea's leading private equity firms, is considering selling a minority stake in AirFirst, a major industrial gas business company in the country. AirFirst was launched in 2019, following IMM PE's acquisition of a 100-percent stake in Linde Korea's industrial gas business. According to the investment banking sources Wednesday, the private equity firm is currently in an early tapping phase for the possible sale of the stake, aiming to figure out potential buyers' interests in the industrial gas business company. The company hasn't yet specifically decided the exact amount of shares that it aims to sell; it is largely estimated that the private equity firm will sell an approximate 20-to-40-percent stake in the gas company, depending on deal negotiations and market conditions during the actual sale process. Market watchers expect the actual sale of the minority stake is expected to take place as early as in the first half of next year.“Many overseas i

Oct 13, 2022By Anna J. Park
IMM considers selling minority stake in AirFirst
Economy

FSS vows stern action against suspicious overseas remittance cases

Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) Governor Lee Bok-hyun speaks during an audit session held at the National Assembly in Seoul, Tuesday. YonhapBy Anna J. ParkThe Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) plans to wrap up its months-long investigations over local banks and securities firms' abnormal overseas remittance transactions that amounted to nearly 10 trillion won ($7 billion) in 2021.According to an FSS briefing at an annual audit session held at the National Assembly on Tuesday, a total of 82 local business entities were investigated for involvement in suspicious overseas remittance transactions at dozens of local banks totaling $7.22 billion over the past 12 to 18 months. As the transactions seemed suspicious in terms of both remittance size and local entities' business activities, the FSS has been looking into the cases with the cooperation of the banks since June this year. As the total amount of suspicious transfers snowballed during the course of the financial watchdog's investigation over the past months, the investigation has far exceeded its originally planned duration. If

Oct 11, 2022By Anna J. Park
FSS vows stern action against suspicious overseas remittance cases
Banking & Finance

Kakao Pay Insurance launches first product

The headquarters of Kakao Pay / Courtesy of Kakao PayBy Anna J. Park Kakao Pay Insurance officially launches its very first insurance plan this week, aiming to solidify its position as the country's representative fintech-led digital non-life insurer. It took six months for the digital insurer to come up with its first product, since the country's financial regulator, the Financial Services Commission (FSC), gave the green light to the firm to enter the insurance sector. It is the first case of a local IT platform giant advancing into the insurance industry.Boasting strength in IT-based technologies, the company's first insurance product protects insurance holders from cyber financial crimes, such as various online phishing scams and online commerce fraud. Holders of the insurance plan can receive compensation before the financial authority makes judgment calls concerning damage reimbursements. The new insurance plan is expected to shorten the average amount of time it takes to reimburse any damages from online financial fraud by more than two months, compared to other local insuranc

Oct 11, 2022By Anna J. Park
Kakao Pay Insurance launches first product
Economy

Startups see corporate values dive due to tightened liquidity

gettyimagesbankBy Anna J. Park A rapid tightening of global liquidity is dealing hefty blows to local startup companies, as many of them are forced to accept much-lowered corporate valuations to attract new investments. An overall drop in new investments made by venture capital companies has forced startups to sell their stakes at much lower prices.For instance, Balaan, a high-end fashion shopping commerce platform, recently received 10 billion won ($7 million) from Shinhan Capital at a corporate value of 300 billion won. That is less than the half of what that the fashion platform company originally aimed to attract in investments at the start of this year. The company hoped to be appraised at 800 billion, yet it had to cut its valuation down to 500 billion won a few months later. Finally, it was able to attract Shinhan Capital's money at a value of 300 billion won in late September.Balaan's competitor Trenbe also lowered its corporate valuation to 280 billion won in its latest investment round, down 30 percent from its target of 400 billion won. Many startups' corporate valuations

Oct 9, 2022By Anna J. Park
Startups see corporate values dive due to tightened liquidity
Banking & Finance

Internal business transactions soar at Naver and Kakao

The headquarters of Naver and Kakao / Graphic by NewsisInternal businesses grow, as number of subsidiaries rises at IT conglomeratesBy Anna J. ParkNaver and Kakao, Korea's leading IT platform companies, each recorded internal transactions worth over one trillion won ($700 million) last year. While the volume of the internal transactions doubled at Naver during the past four years, Kakao logged a seven-fold increase in such settlements during the same period. According to documents submitted by the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) to ruling party Rep. Yun Chang-hyun, the volume of Naver's internal transactions stood at 1.15 trillion won last year, up 2.3 times from 2017. Kakao's internal transactions stood at 1.46 trillion won, which is a whopping 7.3-fold jump from 2017. The key reason behind the surge in internal transactions at the IT conglomerates was a rapid increase in the number of their subsidiaries. The number of Naver's subsidiaries increased to 54 in 2021 from 45 in 2018. Kakao saw an even bigger increase in the number of subsidiaries, almost doubling from 72 in 2018 to 136 last

Oct 9, 2022By Anna J. Park
Internal business transactions soar at Naver and Kakao
Banking & Finance

4 major banks spend $178 mil. on legal fees

gettyimagesbankBy Anna J. Park Major local banks' spending on legal costs has soared in the last couple of years, in their efforts to defend themselves from financial authorities' punishments for some key financial scandals and accidents. According to documents submitted by the Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) to main opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) Rep. Lee Yong-woo, four major banks ― KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana and Woori ― have spent nearly 250 billion won ($178 million) in legal fees since 2018.Woori Bank's spending of 98.9 billion won on legal fees was the largest amount among the four, followed by Hana Bank's 83.2 billion won. Shinhan and KB Kookmin spent 48.2 billion won and 18.8 billion won, respectively. The major local lenders' legal costs have particularly soared since 2020, as they were mired in a series of financial accidents, including Woori and Hana's derivative-linked funds (DLF) cases as well as banks' and brokerage firms' mis-selling of problematic funds. For instance, the Financial Services Commission (FSS) imposed multi-layered sanctions in May 2020 on

Oct 6, 2022By Anna J. Park
4 major banks spend $178 mil. on legal fees
Economy

Insurance sector faces low growth amid inflation, uncertainties

gettyimagesbankBy Anna J. ParkInsurance experts in the country forecast a 2.1 percent year-on-year growth in premium income next year, due mainly to continuing inflation and recessional market sentiment stemming from increased uncertainties in macroeconomic factors.Participants at a seminar hosted by the Korea Insurance Research Institute (KIRI) in Seoul, Thursday, called for local insurers to strengthen risk management, as inflation wreaks havoc on the insurance industry by reducing the real value of insurance contracts and increasing the amount of coverage. “If the Korean economy goes through a recession, it will weaken the insurance sector's long-term growth,” the research institute's senior analyst Kim Se-joong said during the seminar. “It will harm the industry's growth rate and profitability, with the fall in insurance demand and the increase in termination of insurance plans. The increase of moral hazard would also negatively affect the sector's profitability with the rise of loss ratios. A possible delay in social agreements in the realm of pension reforms w

Oct 6, 2022By Anna J. Park
Insurance sector faces low growth amid inflation, uncertainties
Banking & Finance

Innovative restructuring leads Meritz Fire's prominent growth

Meritz Fire & Marine Insurance Vice Chairman Kim Yong-beom / Courtesy of Meritz Fire & Marine InsuranceBy Anna J. ParkSince taking the helm of Meritz Fire & Marine Insurance in 2015, Vice Chairman Kim Yong-beom has been focusing on revamping the corporate structure and empowering each employee with a greater sense of responsibility over the business. Under Kim's innovative corporate structure, each employee can easily check their contributions to the company's business achievements in real-time. This allowed company staff to receive appropriate compensation for their share of work from the company. This has increased the level of employee motivation and a sense of ownership in the corporate business.The insurance company's sales organization has also been streamlined, which attributed to a reduction of costs, an increase in product competitiveness and a boost in the sales staffs' commissions.Based on these structural innovations, Meritz Fire & Marine Insurance posted an operational profit of 910.8 billion won ($631 million) in 2021, which is a 49.2 percent year-on-yea

Oct 6, 2022By Anna J. Park
Innovative restructuring leads Meritz Fire's prominent growth
  • Meritz Fire marks 100th anniversary in October
Banking & Finance

Meritz flourishes on Chairman Cho's meritocracy-based management

Meritz Financial Group Chairman Cho Jung-ho / Courtesy of Meritz Financial Group Meritz Financial Group posts 30-fold growth during past two decades By Anna J. ParkMeritz Fire & Marine Insurance has achieved exponential growth since the company broke off from Hanjin Group's affiliates back in 2005. During the past 17 years, the company's market cap has increased to 4.5 trillion won ($3.1 billion), which is more than a 23-fold growth rate, while the insurer's assets also recorded a 10-times increase to reach 28 trillion won.When the comparison is extended to the entirety of Meritz Financial Group, which includes both the non-life insurer and a brokerage company, the growth is even more salient; the financial group's total asset size stood at nearly 90 trillion won as of June this year, which is a 30-fold increase from that of the group back in 2005. Behind the impressive exponential growth is Meritz Financial Group Chairman Cho Jung-ho, who is the youngest son of Cho

Oct 6, 2022By Anna J. Park
Meritz flourishes on Chairman Cho's meritocracy-based management
  • Meritz Fire marks 100th anniversary in October
Banking & Finance

Meritz Fire marks 100th anniversary in October

Meritz Fire & Marine Insurance headquarters in southern Seoul / Courtesy of Meritz Fire & Marine InsuranceBy Anna J. ParkMeritz Fire & Marine Insurance celebrated its 100th anniversary on Oct. 1. Often dubbed the icon of innovation in the local insurance market, the company has undergone continual transformation and renovation to thrive as a successful company throughout the past century. Established in 1922 as Chosun Fire & Marine Insurance, the company's growth trajectory represents the local insurance industry's history itself. It was Korea's very first indemnity insurance company based on Korean people's capital, operating among various other Japanese insurers in Korea back then. After Japan's 35-year colonial rule over the peninsula ended in 1945, the company became state-owned, and it was renamed Dongyang Fire & Marine Insurance in 1950. Chosun Fire & Marine Insurance headquarters in Seoul in 1922 / Courtesy of Meritz Fire & Marine InsuranceIt was also the country's first insurance company to go public on the local stock market in 1956 and the 60th c

Oct 6, 2022By Anna J. Park
Meritz Fire marks 100th anniversary in October
  • Innovative restructuring leads Meritz Fire's prominent growth
  • Meritz flourishes on Chairman Cho's meritocracy-based management
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